Arturo Hilario
El Observador
Paula Assadourian knows very well how to collaborate on a story. She has worked on several of the last few Pixar films as a Story Artist including Elemental, Turning Red and Soul, bringing her own experiences as a Mexican immigrant and woman to the films she works on.
With Inside Out 2, she along with the rest of the crew at Pixar had to go back to the roots of what made the original film such an endearing story, and added new aspects that would celebrate the universal connections that humanity shares while continuing the story of the young protagonist Riley, and all of the emotions within her.
In the following interview, Assadourian explains how her experience on working on Inside Out 2 was formed around collaboration, relatable perspectives as a woman, and why audiences might feel transformed with the sequel.
Well, thanks for taking the time to talk about the movie. To start, what was your role in helping write the story for Inside Out 2 and what was your goal with the project?
Inside Out 2 is the continuation of the world that already exists. So, we wanted to deliver at the height, or at the level of the first film. So, we knew that we had a great responsibility, because it is a film so loved by the audiences.
And we knew that it was going to be the story of Riley at 14 years old as a teenager and how in the end the first movie ends saying something like: Riley is 12 years old, what’s the worst that can happen? So, it’s like, “okay, let’s see about this puberty thing.”
“I think the movie is turning out incredible and I think people are going to love it. And I think it’s going to be very healing for audiences, to understand that these issues are universal, that they are not alone.”
-Paula Assadourian
So those were the parameters and I think the whole team did an incredible job for the film. And I, specifically, really liked to contribute to trying to make the experience of being a teenager as a woman as authentic as possible. And with the team, which included many women, there is an environment in which people feel free to express themselves, tell their stories as vulnerable people of that time and try as much as possible for those specific things to end up in the film.
And following on from that, how do you connect to the story by perhaps having similar experiences to Riley in your life?
Yes, I think Riley’s experience is universal, in that when we are all children we have that spark and that happiness, naturally. And at that age something happens that changes and you can see it as adolescents in general, who become very aware of themselves and understand that to survive in the world they think they have to change and adapt.
And that is something I can completely relate to, especially as a Mexican person who lives in the United States and who wants to integrate with this culture, but at the same time I want to preserve the things that feel good to me and try not to have that strong inner critic. And yes, I think it’s a very universal story.
And in working on this film, since it is a film that talks a lot about human emotions, what emotions do you get from finishing this work and knowing that it is going to be released for audiences to see?
It gives me a lot, a lot of happiness and a lot of emotion. Because yes, I think the movie is turning out incredible and I think people are going to love it. And I think it’s going to be very healing for audiences, to understand that these issues are universal, that they are not alone.
And like what the first one did, such a big film had never been made before, being able to personify emotions and for the first time understand that they are these internal phenomena that come and go and transform and that you can observe them and that they do not have to control. And I think that made the audiences, the truth is that a lot of people were transformed by that film to be more self-aware. And I think this movie is going to take it even further.
Inside Out 2 llegará a los cines el 14 de junio de 2024.
